Mr. Speaker, the government does have a plan. It is the turning the corner plan. It is the first time in Canadian history where we have a plan that has mandatory targets and it includes all industries. All the major polluters and emitters of greenhouse gas emissions will need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and that includes the oil sands.

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary should know that a real plan to address global warming contains absolute targets for reducing greenhouse gases and not the current intensity targets that will allow the tar sands industry to practically double its emissions by 2020.

Does the Prime Minister not understand that to stop this environmental disaster, his government must comply with the Kyoto protocol and adopt a plan with absolute targets?

Mr. Speaker, The Conservatives are finally adopting some of the Bloc Québécois recommendations on reducing phosphates to deal with the blue-green algae problem. Nonetheless, a report prepared by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment indicates that nitrogen oxides can be just as bad in the spread of the algae.

Will the Minister of the Environment again admit that the Bloc Québécois is right and go back to the drawing board in order to come up with a truly effective plan for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions?

Mr. Speaker, blue-green algae is a very serious problem in Canada. I look forward to an announcement that will be made today and I encourage the member to wait. It will be a good announcement. It is another example of this government getting things done and cleaning up an environmental mess left by the previous government.

Mr. Speaker, the real changes did not come from the Conservatives, they came from this side of the House, from the Bloc Québécois.

All the industries that emit nitrogen oxides must reduce their emissions by 8% to 65% by 2015, with the exception of companies exploiting the tar sands. They can even increase their nitrogen oxide emissions by 5% for the same period.

Will the minister stop pandering to the oil companies and finally impose pollution emission reduction standards on them in order to ensure the survival of our lakes?

Mr. Speaker, we will never get the politics out of polling if we let ministers and their political staff dole out lucrative contracts to their political friends.

The Conservatives used to scream bloody murder over Liberal polling mischief. Now Senator Porkchop wants to allow a system that invites abuse and political interference, all hidden behind the secrecy of cabinet confidence.

Why do the Conservatives not clean up public opinion polling once and for all and keep their hands off and their nose out of the tendering practice for public opinion polling?

Peter Van LoanLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for that question because, as he observed, it is a really tough job cleaning up the mess we inherited.

The Federal Accountability Act went a long way but the job still is not done. We discovered, to our alarm, that there was still an extraordinarily high amount of public opinion polling being done at the bureaucratic level. We think that is far too much spending on public opinion polling being done, which is why we are moving to significantly reduce the amount of spending now that we have been able to uncover where it is.

We will continue to do that to ensure that taxpayer dollars are respected and polling is minimized and used only in ways that are appropriate.

Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the abuse in polling contracts, the Minister of Finance is supposed to be the guardian of the public purse, the protector of the nation's finances. What are Canadians to think when he squanders $122,000 on a single speech in an untendered contract to an old political crony?

When it comes to the rules, the Minister of Finance has broken every one. He threw the rule book right out the window when it came to tendering.

I want to know what kind of sanctions, what kind of discipline is being meted out on the Minister of Finance for breaking every rule in the book when it comes to tendering contracts.

The hon. member certainly underestimates the amount of work that went into putting the budget speech together, in fact, the entire budget for 2007. I would invite the hon. member to look on the website. These are all detailed in obvious fashion for the hon. member to see.

What we do not see detailed is the expenditures of the Liberal Party, the $40 million that we are still looking for. We cannot find that on any website.

Mr. Speaker, today, the Leader of the Opposition announced that all future surpluses over and above a $3 billion contingency fund will be used to address the massive infrastructure deficit facing Canada. This funding will be over and above the gas tax transfer, the GST rebate and all other future infrastructure programs.

Will the transport minister finally see the light? Will he see that his failing Canada plan is simply not enough and will he endorse the Liberal plan for Canada's infrastructure future?

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the Liberal plan would put us into a deficit situation.

However, let us talk about something that was said by the FCM president, Gord Steeves. He said:

[The Prime Minister] received a warm reception from our delegates, who responded enthusiastically to his government's important investments in infrastructure.

That is probably because $33 billion is the most allocated by any government in Canada's immediate history. That is Conservative managed dollars, unlike Liberal managed dollars. We know what happens that way; a million dollars to this friend, a million dollars for that Liberal election. That is not going to happen--

Mr. Speaker, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has already passed judgment on this Liberal plan. It likes what it sees.

Just moments ago the FCM president, Gord Steeves, had this to say about the plan, “Bold, visionary and with the potential to change the face of our country”. He did not say that about the Conservative plan.

The Liberal plan is exactly what municipalities want and what our country desperately needs.